Dualism
© Joanna Kay, 2015
Plato conceived
of the transcendental and the material.
Descartes, of
mind’s dominion over body.
Captivated, I used to devour these texts.
It is the Western birthright to be caught between these warring sects,
to be enlightened.
The crawling creature
versus the brine from which it crept;
the animal that raised it’s front paws and walked,
stately, out of nature;
the rogue cell that divided too rapidly
for the system’s good,
ending in fatal proliferation.
Mind has thought
it could bend Body to its will.
It would Think Itself into oblivion
if it could cut the cords
that keep it firing.
Body feels,
belly-deep,
and knows with primal knowing
that neither can survive
without the other.
There I am,
a child cowering on the stairs.
Father and Mother rage and cry
and then fall silent—
mutual destruction.
The house divided was built on sand.
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